Chicago Enforcers police football team defeats Philadelphia in championship

Game was a chance to bond with other officers, relive glory days on the gridiron

June 25, 2011|By Jeremy Gorner, Tribune reporter

Unlike most of his days, Chicago police Officer Mike Gaines was not out Saturday chasing bad guys on the mean streets of the Southeast Side.

Instead, he was the one being pursued and tackled by a group of frustrated Philadelphia cops and firefighters after making an acrobatic interception en route to helping his fellow Chicago officers win the National Public Safety Football League Division II Championship.

After six years of trying, it was the first championship for Chicago's finest — known as the Enforcers — during the game at Brother Rice High School on the Far Southwest Side.

The 24-13 victory over the Philadelphia Blue Flame was mostly a bonding experience for the officers on both sides, a time to unwind away from the crime that puts their lives at risk every day.

But it was also a chance for some players to relive their glory days on the high school field.

Gaines, a South Chicago district officer who in the 1990s played football for Morgan Park High School under renowned coach Lexie Spurlock, was the game's most valuable player after two interceptions, one returned for a touchdown.

Despite spraining his left ankle, he treated the victory as if it were a New Year's Day bowl game.

"I believe one of my other (defensive backs) tipped the ball, and I just focused and concentrated and held it in," Gaines said shortly after getting tackled. "It's a team game …we're all working hard, baby."

Officer Bob Slechter, who patrols the West Side for the Harrison district, caught a touchdown pass.

Winning the championship, he said, was "pretty cool."

"It's the crowning athletic achievement of my life," Slechter said before shaking hands with the Philadelphia players. "I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but …"

Mike McKay, the Philadelphia squad's head coach, took the loss in stride. Like the Enforcers, the Blue Flame entered the game with a 3-1 record.

"You hope they can come out and play a full four quarters and minimize the mistakes," McKay said after the game. "We made a couple of big ones … thus, the loss."

For the Chicago squad, the victory was an invaluable exercise in team-building — all the way up to the department's new Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

A former linebacker, McCarthy won seven championships when he played on New York City's police team, including a 2004 title game during which he injured a knee.

While a couple hundred fans cheered in the stands, McCarthy was cheering on the sidelines.

"Over the course of 18 years, I played like 12 seasons with the NYPD. I had more comebacks than Cher," McCarthy joked at halftime. "In between when I wasn't playing, I was kind of doing the stuff that I'm doing now, which is just giving them a little bit of pep talk and picking them up."